ExpertGlossary terms starting with A

3,515 terms

Ablative Unalterable data. See Ablate.
Ablative Shield A shield made of material that vaporizes when heated, absorbing thermal energy and protecting the shielded object from heat damage.
Ablative Shock A mechanical shock wave at the surface of an object exposed to intense pulsed electromagnetic radiation.
ABM activity based management - a management methodology that combines ABC with business process analysis techniques to run, improve and measure performance…
ABM Treaty Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, signed and ratified by the (former) Soviet Union and the United States, limiting deployment on each side to one…
ABM-X-3 A terminal Soviet anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system using transportable phased-array radars and both long and short-range, high acceleration…
ABMDA OBSOLETE. Advanced Ballistic Missile Defense Agency.
ABNCP Airborne National Command Post.
ABNDT Abundant
abnormal Not normal. An abnormal lesion or growth may be cancerous, premalignant (likely to become cancer), or benign.
abnormality (ab-nohr-MAL-uh-tee): A growth or area of tissue that is not normal. An abnormality may be cancer or likely to become cancer.
ABO Agent of Biological Origin (NBC term).
Abogado designado Un abogado designado por el tribunal para representar a un demandado o acusado sin costo.
abort In a computer or data transmission system, to terminate, usually in a controlled manner, a processing activity because it is impossible or undesirable for…
Above the Fold A term traditionally used to describe the top portion of a newspaper. In email or web marketing it means the area of content viewable prior to scrolling.
ABox Used to describe statements in ontologies; an assertion; a fact that is associated with a terminological vocabulary within a knowledge base; A-Box…
Abrasion Wearing away of surfaces by friction.
abrasive Any of a number of hard materials, such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, and diamond, that are powdered and carefully graded according to particle…
Abraxane (uh-BRAX-ayn) A drug used to treat breast cancer that has spread or that has come back within 6 months after chemotherapy.
abrupt climate change a change in the climate (for example, temperature or precipitation) that takes place over a few decades or less, persists for at least a few decades, and…
abscess An enclosed collection of pus in tissues, organs, or confined spaces in the body. An abscess is a sign of infection and is usually swollen and inflamed.
abscisic acid A phytohormone implicated in the control of many plant responses to abiotic stress, such as extent of stomatal opening under water deficit (i.e.
Absence d'esprit Absence of mind.
absolute address In communications, computer, and data processing systems, an address that directly identifies a storage location without the use of an intermediate…
Absolute boosting Absolute boosting enables a document to be consistently displayed at a given position in the result set when a user searches with a specific query.
Absolute Certainty ultimate sureness with no implication of possible change.
absolute dating the process of determining a specific, numerical age for an old material. This may be accomplished using one of a variety of methods, including…
absolute delay The time interval or phase difference between transmission and reception of a signal. 2.
Absolute divorce a divorce in which the marriage is completely dissolved and both parties become single.
absolute filename A filename whose full path is unambiguously given starting from the top (root) of a file system tree. For instance c:\Java\bin\javac.
absolute gain Of an antenna, for a given direction and polarization, the ratio of (a) the power that would be required at the input of an ideal isotropic radiator to…
Absolute Humidity The ratio of the mass of water vapor to the volume occupied by a mixture of water vapor and dry air.
Absolute Link A link which shows the full URL of the page being linked at. Some links only show relative link paths instead of having the entire reference URL within…
Absolute Novelty A requirement of some patent offices (but not the USPTO) that public disclosure or sale of an invention anywhere in the world cannot occur prior to the…
Absolute pressure Atmospheric pressure plus gauge pressure.
absolute priority rule Requirement that a certain class of creditors be satisfied before payment to another class of creditors.
absolute temperature See thermodynamic temperature.
Absolutely Stable Air An atmospheric condition that exists when the environmental lapse rate is less than the moist adiabatic lapse rate.
Absolutely Unstable Air An atmospheric condition that exists when the environmental lapse rate is greater than the dry adiabatic lapse rate.
Absolver Un veredicto emitido por el jurado de un juicio o por un juez que decide que una persona no es culpable de un delito.
Absorbed dose Energy imparted to a body by radiation, measured per unit mass (kg) of tissue.
Absorbed water Water held mechanically in a soil or rock mass and having physical properties not substantially different from ordinary water at the same temperature and…
Absorbent A material that extracts one or more substances from a fluid (gas or liquid) medium on contact, and which changes physically and/or chemically in the…
Absorber The component of a solar thermal collector that absorbs solar radiation and converts it to heat, or, as in a solar photovoltaic device, the material that…
absorptance The ratio of the luminous flux or absorbed radiant flux to the incident flux.
Absorption (ub-SORP-shun) The process of taking nutrients from the digestive system into the blood so they can be used in the body.
absorption band A spectral region in which the absorption coefficient reaches a relative maximum, by virtue of the physical properties of the matter in which the…
Absorption Chiller A type of air cooling device that uses absorption cooling to cool interior spaces.
Absorption Coefficient In reference to a solar energy conversion devices, the degree to which a substance will absorb solar energy.
Absorption Cooling A process in which cooling of an interior space is accomplished by the evaporation of a volatile fluid, which is then absorbed in a strong solution, then…
Absorption factor The fraction of a chemical making contact with an organism that is absorbed by the organism.
absorption index A measure of the attenuation caused by absorption of energy per unit of distance that occurs in an electromagnetic wave of given wavelength propagating in…
absorption loss That part of the transmission loss caused by the dissipation or conversion of electrical, electromagnetic, or acoustic energy into other forms of energy…
absorption modulation Amplitude modulation of the output of a radio transmitter by means of a variable-impedance circuit that is caused to absorb carrier power in accordance…
Absorption of radiation The uptake of radiation by a solid body, liquid or gas. The absorbed energy may be transferred or re-emitted. See radiation.
absorption peak 1. The wavelength or frequency at which a particular substance absorbs the most power (or, where the attenuation of the propagated signal is the greatest)…
Absorption Refrigeration A system in which a secondary fluid absorbs the refrigerant, releasing heat, then releases the refrigerant and reabsorbs the heat.
Absorption Spectra The spectra of electromagnetic radiation transmitted through a substance, with dark lines indicating the absorption of specific wavelengths.
absorptivity In a solar thermal system, the ratio of solar energy striking the absorber that is absorbed by the absorber to that of solar energy striking a black body…
ABSS Automated Biotechnology Sequence Search See PSIPS to access sequence searching online
abstract A Java keyword used in a class definition to specify that a class is not to be instantiated, but rather inherited by other classes.
abstract class A class with the abstract reserved word in its header. Abstract classes are distinguished by the fact that you may not directly construct objects from…
abstract method A method with the abstract reserved word in its header. An abstract method has no method body. Methods defined in an interface are always abstract.
Abstract of the Disclosure A concise statement of the technical disclosure including that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains -- see MPEP 608.01(b) for more
Abstract of Title A historical summary provided by a title insurance company of all records affecting the title to a property.
abstract schema The part of an entity bean's deployment descriptor that defines the bean's persistent fields and relationships.
abstract schema name A logical name that is referenced in EJB QL queries.
abstract syntax In open systems architecture, the specification of application-layer data or application-protocol control information by using notation rules that are…
abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) A standard, flexible method that (a) describes data structures for representing, encoding, transmitting, and decoding data, (b) provides a set of formal…
Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) A collection of graphical user interface (GUI) components that were implemented using native-platform versions of the components.
Abstraction Abstraction involves changing the interface of an object and exposing it in a more useful or appropriate form.
ABT About
ABT-263 A substance being studied in the treatment of lymphomas and other types of cancer. It blocks some of the enzymes that keep cancer cells from dying.
ABT-510 A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer. It is a type of angiogenesis inhibitor.
ABT-751 A substance that is being studied in the treatment of cancer. It belongs to the family of drugs called sulfonamides.
ABT-888 A substance being studied in the treatment of some types of cancer. It blocks enzymes that repair DNA damage caused by cancer treatments such as radiation…
Abuse of Discretion An appellate court uses this standard of review where a party may argue that a lower court’s decision was greatly unsound, unreasonable, or illegal.
Abuse of Privilege Formal nomenclature for user actions not in accordance with organizational policy or law.
Abusive tax avoidance transaction (ATAT) Is defined as: Tax shelter as defined under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6662(d)(2)(C), Reportable transaction as defined under IRC Section…
Abusive tax schemes Transactions promoted for the promise of tax benefits with no meaningful change in the taxpayer's control over or benefit from the taxpayer's income or…
Abutment That part of the valley wall against which the dam is constructed. The part of a dam that contacts the riverbank.
Abutment Seepage Reservoir water that moves through seams or pores in the natural abutment material and exits as seepage.
Abutment Seeping Reservoir water that moves through seams or pores in the natural abutment material and exits as seepage.
ABV Above
ABX-EGF A human monoclonal antibody that is being used to treat colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Abzyme See Catalytic antibody.
AC Armor Class or Defense.
ac-dc ringing Telephone ringing that makes use of both ac and dc voltages and currents. Note: An alternating current may be used to operate a ringer and direct current…
ac-ft acre-foot, acre-feet.
ACA (1) Airspace Control Authority. (2) Associate Contracting Agreement (Contracting term).
ACAP Advanced Capabilities.
ACAPHA (a-KAF-uh) A mixture of six herbs that has been used in China to prevent and treat diseases such as lung and esophageal cancers.
acaricide A pesticide used to kill or control mites or ticks.
ACAT Acquisition Category (DD 5000 term).
ACAT I Acquisition Category One
ACBA Airborne Communications Bus Architecture (USAF term).
ACC (1) Air Combat Command (USAF), Langley AFB, VA. (2) Air Component Commander. (3) Area Coordination Center. 3
ACC synthase Abbreviation for 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylase. The enzyme catalyses the rate limiting step in the ethylene biosynthetic pathway, and is particularly…
ACCAS (usually pronounced ACK-kis) - A lto C umulus CAS tellanus; mid-level clouds (bases generally 8 to 15 thousand feet), of which at least a fraction of…
Accelerant an agent, often an ignitable liquid, that acts to initiate a fire or increase its rate of spread.